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At a series of physician lectures on our modern work environments, I learned why all the physicians who presented there had thrown away their office chairs and replaced them with working treadmills:

Continuous body motion, including fidgeting, is a healthy use of daily calories and keeps our weight in check.

Our modern workplace environments that promote desk jobs and prolonged sitting are harmful to our health.

The question I want to pose to you is this: Are our modern workplaces, and the advances that make them possible, directly responsible for our worsening societal health? This question was the focus of a July 2015 study published in the European Heart Journal, conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, MD, also addressed the issue in an excellent editorial about the same study, Standing for Healthier Lives – Literally.

Standing during work as a health benefit is not a new concept, Dr. Lopez-Jimenez points out. In a 1953 study from London published in the British Medical Journal, bus conductors who often stood during their work shifts had less coronary artery disease and lower total mortality than bus drivers who spent their days seated.

But in our society, jobs in which we are seated are often viewed as more advanced than jobs that require prolonged standing.

Ask yourself a few simple questions:

If you see two employees traveling to work — one on a regular bicycle and the other in a luxury automobile — who likely has the higher position in the company?

Consider a second scenario: If one of your neighbors hires a maid and a lawn service, and the other spends a lot of time on the yard and doing household chores, who probably has a higher economic status?

The Bigger the Chair, the Better — Not Healthier — the Job

Perception is important in our society. Leaders of large corporations often have very large offices with vast comfortable seating. They also spend extensively to make large open lobbies with big couches and chairs. “In every country, the bigger and more comfortable the chair, the more important the job. Interestingly, in the English language, chair also means chief or director, making a piece of furniture a synonym of power and rank,” writes Lopez-Jimenez.

Clearly, societies have placed value on sitting. But unfortunately, we live with the health consequences of this misdirected value.

In most advanced societies, diabetes, sleep apnea, obesity, heart disease, and stroke are becoming epidemics. Obesity also results in higher rates of many cancers, including breast, uterine, pancreatic, and colon cancers. Even in less developed countries, the wealthier people tend to suffer from higher rates of these diseases: Their status has afforded them more opportunities to sit and, consequently, become less active.

Standing Vs. Sitting Cuts Heart Disease Risks

In the interesting new study from Australia, researchers recognized that excessive sitting time is associated with worse health. They asked if replacing sitting with standing was sufficient, or if additional activity and motion was still required or would provide additional benefits. Six hundred and nighty-eight people were enrolled in this study — 57 percent of them women. The average age was approximately 58.

Most of us often overestimate our activity and exercise times and underestimate our sedentary times. When I ask some of my older male patients about their activity, their wives will often start laughing at the answers. But these researchers did not rely on self-reported times of activity: They used posture and activity monitors to accurately measure standing and activity times.

When people replaced two hours of sitting a day with standing, they had changes in these important heart disease risk factors:

The authors then looked at what happens when you replace two hours of sitting with stepping. For those who have an office job, this means using a small stair stepper or workplace treadmill. The rate they chose was three METs (METS are metabolic equivalents, and the energy it takes to just sit is one MET). Three METs is a walking rate of about 2.5 to 3 miles per hour.

Results associated with this simple lifestyle change from sitting to stepping were profound:

I agree completely with Lopez-Jimenez that we need to “Stand for Healthier Lives.” We also need to recognize that our societal value of sitting is misplaced and has caused public harm.

Many of my colleagues, like other researchers in this area, have given up their office chairs. Some now do their computer work and charting on a walking treadmill. Australia now has an active public health campaign to reduce sitting times. These healthy choices will have far-reaching, positive consequences.

I applaud companies and organizations that have already started to promote the use of standing desks and walking treadmill desks. The great news from the Australian study is that many of the negative effects of prolonged sitting can be reversed.

Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health. See More

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